Shower bath curtain



Oct. 22, 1963 GLUTTING, 512 3,107,361

SHOWER BATH CURTAIN Filed Dec. 26, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet l W W I kfl INVEN TOR. Roy fl mun-W 52 Arrows/5Y5 Oct. 22, 1963 R. H. GLUTTING, sR 7,

SHOWER BATH CURTAIN Filed Dec. 26, 1961 I 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 II'IHHIHIIIINVEIQTOR Pay/l. 64 arr/Na, 67?.

ATTORNEYS 3,107,361 SHOWER BATH CURTAIN Roy H. Glutting, Sn, No BloShower Curtain Co., 11666 Rutland, Detroit, Mich. Filed Dec. 26, 1961',Ser. No. 162,024 3 Claims. (Cl. 4--149) closed in the Piken patent,supra, as will be observed from the following.

One object of my present invention is to provide a shower bath curtainwith magnetic means that will be effective in holding the bottom edgeportion of the curtain closely and firmly in the desired positionagainst the wall of the tub or other form of shower compartment onlywhen the curtain occupies position within the same during actual use ofthe curtain but not when the curtain hangs upon the outside of the tubor other form of shower compartment, the idea being to permit thecurtain to be slid along the top rod in a tree manner when it occupiesposition outside of the tub or other shower compartment and yet toprevent the curtain from flapping about the bather during the period ofactual use, that is when the curtain occupies position upon the insideof the a United States Patent More specifically, my inventioncontemplates the provision of the lower part of the shower bath curtainwith weights that are in effect magnetized upon only one side thereofand that are arranged upon the curtain in such manner that suchelfective magnetized sides of the weights will be adjacent the innersurface of the tub or other shower compartment wall whenthe curtainhangs within the same and the weights will be attracted by the ferrousmetal portion of the tub or other shower compartment only when in suchposition, as will be more fully explained.

Other objects will appear from the following description and claims whenconsidered together with the accompanying drawing.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the embodiment of my presentinvention in a shower bath with a tub;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 22 of FIG. '1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view corresponding to line 2-2 of FIG. -1 butshowing the curtain upon the outside of the tub;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial front elevation;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating my present invention when usedwith a shower stall or compartment other than a. tub;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a tub with another means for attachingthe magnetized members to the bottom of the shower curtain;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken on line 8-8 of -FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a perspective detail view of the form of attachable membershown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 and which may be used also in connection withthe shower compartment illustrated in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6.

Referring now to the first form of my present invention, there isdisclosed in FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawing a conventional form ofbath tub with a ferrous -metal core 1 that is enclosed within the usualporcelain part arranged either within the tub or outside thereofin thewell-known manner. I

It is of course understood that the force of the spraying Water and anycurrent or other disturbance of the air are apt to cause flapping of thecurtain when in position of use and this is calculated to annoy thebather especially when the moving curtain strikes his body. Thisobjectionable situation has already 'been recognized; and it is alsounderstood to be common practice to slide the shower bath curtain 3along its rod 4 outside of the tub or other shower compartment so as toget it out of the way when not in use.

Accordingly, with this dual situation in rrrind, I have devised onearrangement in which there are placed within the hem 5 at the bottom ofthe curtain 3 a number of spaced duplicate weights 6 of suitablematerial that are held in position by cross-stitching the hem to formpockets 5a and that may have the eiiect of being magnetized upon onlyone side thereof, these weights being arranged with their eifectivemagnetized sides adjacent the inner surface of the wall of the tub whensuspended therewithin during actual use of the shower bath. In sucharrangement these weights will be attracted by the ferrous metal core 1of the tub and the curtain will thereby be effectively held against thetub wall. Inthis'way there is precluded the objectionable flapping ofthe curtain about the body of the bather. Then, when it is desired tomove the curtain to the outside of the tub and to slide the same alongthe rod 4, the weightsmay be readily withdrawn from engagement with thetub wall; and, upon placing the curtain upon the outside of the tub, thevirtually unrnagnetized sides of the weights 6 will be adjacent the tubwall and will not be attracted-by the metallic core of the tub but thebottom part. of the curtain will hang free so as to permit it to bereadily slid along the rod 4 without any hindrance, this condition beingemphasized in FIG. 3 of the present drawing by showing a slightclearance between the tubwall and the curtain.

Without attempting to explain exactly and fully the magnetic reaction, Iwill merely state that there are certain ceramic materials that arecapable of being permanently magnetized in such manner that a body ofsuch magnetic material virtually has the effect of being magnetized upononly the one side thereof insofar as the field of magnetic attractionwith respect to an outside ferrous body is concerned; and my presentinvention comprehends the utilization of any such material that ismagnetized in such manner. For instance, one of the several ceramicmaterial that possesses this property is as follows: B=aFe O which iscommonly known as barium ferrite.

Thus, with this form of my present invention, the shower bath curtainwill be held eifectively in desired position within the tub during useof the shower bath and will be freely slidable along the rod 4 when ithas been placed outside of the tub so as to move it out of the way whennot in use.

In addition to the advantage just referred to, the weights of my presentinvention, when made of ceramic material, are inherently proof againstrust and hence there will be no discoloration of the curtain.

It is to be understood that there might be various forms of my presentinvention, all of which are intended to be comprehended by the followingclaims. For instance, the members 6 may be made of any suitable form;and size and may be arranged in any suitable manner and may consist ofany inherently rust-proof material that is capable of being virtuallymagnetized upon only the one side thereof in a permanent manner so as toperform the function as herein contemplated.

Also, this same invention may be employed in connection with a showerbath compartment or stall in which, instead of the conventionalfull-height tub, there is a low upstanding wall or flange 7 at one ormore sides of the bottom of the shower compartment, as illustrated inFIGS. 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawing. In this case, the low wall 7may consist entirely of porcelain and I attach along the inner surfaceof the wall 7 a strip 8 of stainless steel or other suitable materialthat will attract the magnetized weights 6a that are held within the hem5a of the curtain 3a in the same manner as in the first form of devicehereinabove described. The co-operation between the strip 8 on theflange or wall 7 and the magnetized weights on the bottom edge portionof the shower curtain will be the same as in the first form of deviceherein referred to. It is :to be understood that in the arrangementshown in FIGS. 5 and 6 the curtain will be designed according to thenumber of walls 7 in any given case, the present illustration showingthe shower compartment with only one open side and hence only one suchwall 7 although there may be two or three open sides with thecorresponding upstanding low walls.

In FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 I have illustrated another manner of attaching themagnetized weight members to the bottom edge of the shower curtain. Thatis, instead of enclosing these members within the hem of the curtain, Imay secure each magnetized member 6b to the one side of a spring metalclip 9 which may be readily slipped onto the bottom edge of the curtain3b so as to have the magnetized side of the member 6b adjacent the innersurface of the wall of the tub which is of the same construction as thatin FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 and which has metallic core 1a within porcelain body2a; or so as to have the magnetized side of the member 6b adjacent theinner side of the metallic strip 8 on the wall '7 of the showercompartment. The operation of this form of device is the same as in'FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 and also in connection with FIGS. 5 and 6; theparticular advantage of the modification shown in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 beingthat the clips 9 with magnetized weight members attached thereto, asillustrated in FIG. 9, may be manufactured and sold to the user who mayreadily slip the same onto the bot tom edge of his own shower curtain byvirtue of the spring action of the clip 9, without necessitating thepurchase of a special curtain. To repeat, this attachment (FIG. 9) maybe used in connection with the conventional tub (FIGS. 1, 2 and 3) orwith the shower compartment as herein illustrated in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6.

It is believed that other practical advantages flowing from thisinvention will suggest themselves to those who are familiar with the artto which it relates.

It is to be understood that in the following claims the term compartmentis employed as a means of convenience in referring to either theconventional tub or any other form of shower bath compartment or stall,in accordance with the present disclosure of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. In combination, a shower bath compartment having an open side with alow upstanding wall at the bottom of said open side, said wallconsisting solely of a porcelain body and having ferrous metallicmaterial attached to the inner surface of said low porcelain wall, ashower bath curtain suspended from above and having its bottom edgeadapted to hang either inside or outside said wall, portions ofmagnetized material attached at intervals to the bottom edge of saidcurtain, said portions being magnetized upon only on one side thereof,said sides facing in the same direction from the bottom edge wherebywhen the sides face the wall they are magnetically attracted thereto andwhen the sides face away from said wall there is no magnetic attraction.

2. Structure as in claim 1 wherein each portion has a spring clipattached to the nonmagnetized face, said clip securing the portion tothe bottom edge of the curtain.

3. Structure as in claim 1 wherein the bottom edge of the curtain ishemmed over the portions to attach them to the curtain.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,212,326 Piken Aug. 20, 1940 2,297,806 Smith Oct. 6, 1942 2,592,395Cummings Apr. 8, 1952 2,864,096 Garber Dec. 16, 1958 3,000,016 RidgeSept. 19, 1961 3,020,562 Reynolds Feb. 13, 1962

1. IN A COMBINATION, A SHOWER BATH COMPARTMENT HAVING